Yesterday we reported that the version of the popular indie game Darkest Dungeon being sold on the Windows Game Store was a fake and was not put there by developer Red Hook or its founder Chris Bourassa. Bourassa tweeted a warning yesterday that the Windows Game Store version was not from his company and that he was reaching out to Microsoft to get the game removed.

According to The Verge, Microsoft will finally make good on its promise (long before the Xbox One was released) to make every Xbox One system capable of becoming a development kit. In the old days if you wanted to develop on the Xbox platform you either had to buy an expensive development kit unit or use the XNA framework on the PC.

Microsoft sold 6.6 million Xbox systems in the final three months of 2014, the company revealed this week as part of its FY15 Q2 earnings report, which covers the quarter ended December 31, 2014. We say "Xbox systems" because Microsoft combined sales of both Xbox 360 and Xbox One during that time period in its financials.

Microsoft also said its Xbox business enjoyed a "strong holiday season", while the Devices and Consumer division saw year-over-year revenue growth of 8 percent to $12.9 billion.

Microsoft revealed today that it will start testing its new Xbox One app as part of the January build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview. Microsoft revealed the new app this week during a Windows 10 media briefing event. The app allows Windows 10 owners (who also own Xbox One) Xbox Live integration, cross platform multiplayer and game streaming from an Xbox One to PC.

Today at its Windows 10 event Microsoft announced that - for a limited time period of one year after its release - Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 owners will be able to upgrade to its latest operating system free of charge.

Today at its Windows 10 event, Microsoft revealed a new visor that will serve as its entry point into the world of virtual reality.

In a demo of its newly acquired mega franchise Minecraft, Microsoft showed off how its "Project Hololens" wearable visor will display "holograms" in the user's field of vision. The technology is more akin to augmented realty than virtual reality, but we won't split hairs.

Microsoft has made a clarification to its rules for people who want to stream its Xbox games after some in the community expressed confusion. Last week Microsoft updated its Game Content Usage Rules acknowledging that fans could participate in partner programs to earn revenue for ads on Let's Play videos and game streaming as long as they followed a few rules and conditions.

Microsoft has officially said that, "hey people can stream its game content." Microsoft has given user the greenlight to stream gameplay and make Let's Play videos featuring its content on Twitch and YouTube. Microsoft also said that it has no problem with users monetizing this content either, but they'll have to agree to a few terms first. The 16 rules or conditions are covered under Microsoft's new "Game Content Usage Rules."

Microsoft has put out a gentle reminder (via Larry Hryb AKA Major Nelson) that its price cut on the Xbox One and its various bundle iterations will soon be coming to an end. If you didn't get an Xbox One for Christmas and want to take advantage of the $50 off the price promotion that has been running since November, you'll only have until Saturday, Jan. 3.

Microsoft announced today that it will discontinue the original Kinect for Windows. The company says that it will continue to sell the motion sensing camera device adapted for the Windows operating system until stock runs out.

"In October, we shipped the public release of the Kinect for Windows v2 sensor and its software development kit (SDK 2.0)," the company said in a statement released today. "The availability of the v2 sensor and SDK 2.0 means that we will be phasing out the sale of the original Kinect for Windows sensor in 2015."

According to a report from ZDnet reporter Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft is secretly working on its own game streaming service currently codenamed Arcadia (named after the United Earth Government Colony of the same name in the Halo universe).

Foley claims the Arcadia team within Microsoft's Operating Systems Group is building a streaming app and game service built on Microsoft's Azure cloud.

Microsoft keeps giving lip service to gaming on the PC, but it hasn't done much with the space in a very long time. It has all but abandoned its Games For Windows concept and - while it hasn't confirmed it - is quietly shutting down its Games For Windows Live multiplayer service (which was poorly received by fans anyway). Earlier in the year Microsoft renewed its talk about how important PC gaming is and promised some movement in the space. This followed its announcement about Windows 10.

Microsoft is now accepting bitcoin for digital purchases on its various platforms, the company revealed this morning. Those who use bitcoin currency can spend it on purchases on Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox Games, Xbox Music, and Xbox Video stores.

Square Enix tells Game Informer that the exclusive publishing deal it has with Microsoft to bring Rise of the Tomb Raider to Xbox One may not be so exclusive or forever as it has been reported. According to a statement from a Square Enix rep. responding to Game Informer's enquiries about the deal, the publishing agreement has a "duration," though the depth and breadth of that agreement was not revealed.

Microsoft confirmed today that it is publishing Square Enix's Rise of the Tomb Raider, making it an Xbox family exclusive. The game is the sequel to Crystal Dynamics' 2013 Tomb Raider reboot of the popular series that managed to sell over 6.5 million copies across multiple platforms. It is also being developed by the wholly-owned Square Enix development studio.

Microsoft has issued an apology to members of its Xbox Live Indie Games development community who have not been paid in the most recent round of payouts. The apology came after a member of the Destructoid community posted a rather scathing blog post about the situation, which was then shared across social media.

A new update to once again attempt to solve the problems with matchmaking in Microsoft's and 343 Industries' Halo: The Master Chief Collection is due for release later this week. A new post on Halo Waypoint lays out in vague terms what the update will do:

According to analyst firm Infoscout, the Xbox One beat the PlayStation 4 on Black Friday at retail. The firm claims that Microsoft's lower price point of around $50 gave the Xbox One an edge: it had 53 percent of total spend at retail, compared to the PS4's 31 percent. The Xbox One was also the top-selling console at both Walmart and Target, according to the firm.

To celebrate the one year anniversary of the Xbox One, Microsoft will be giving away a handful of freebies and will be giving away major rewards to a few select and randomly chosen Xbox One owners. Anyone who bought an Xbox One between November 22, 2013 and November 11, 2014, and has logged at least 10 hours of usage is eligible. Everyone will get a Year One gamer picture, new Xbox One backgrounds and a Year One image for use as your desktop, Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb explained in a new blog post.

This week Microsoft announced that it has sold nearly 10 million Xbox One consoles since the system launched almost a year ago. The last time Microsoft revealed numbers on sales - way back in April - it said that its newest system had sold five million units.

Part of this growth is likely due two factors: the unbundling of the Kinect and a holiday price cut that runs until January of 2015. That price cut puts the system - including several bundles that include games - down to $349 - about $50 less than a PS4.

Microsoft has launched the Halo: The Master Chief Collection today for Xbox One, and its popularity among players has proven a challenge to the company online.

This morning Xbox issued a service alert warning players that some of the game collection's features were not working temporarily. Right now purchase and content usage related to the game and some social gaming features are currently experiencing problems.

In its alert Microsoft issued a statement on both issues, saying that it was aware of the problems and already working on them.

The free streaming music that you enjoyed from Microsoft for free on Windows 8 PCs and on the web will soon cost you some money - every month. Microsoft revealed that its Xbox Music streaming service will now require a monthly subscription in order to keep using it in the future. The service, which launched for Windows 8 and via the web was launched in October of 2012 and was free (and ad supported).

Backpedaling a bit after recent comments about the pay gap between men and women in the tech industry, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella now says there is no pay gap between men and women at Microsoft. In an interview with CNBC, Nadella said that there is only around a .5 percent difference in salaries on a global basis within the company.

"So it's different than what perhaps is sort of normally felt across all industries," Nadella said.

Multiplayer Network Innovations, LLC has added Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Tecmo Koei Games Co., Ltd., Iron Galaxy Studios, LLC, Tencent Holdings Limited, and Tencent America to its growing list of court room combatants in multiple lawsuits claiming that these companies violate an abstract patent for "Interactive Multiple Player Game System and Method of Playing a Game Between at Least Two Players," or "MNI."

Microsoft claims that over a million people have signed up for the Windows Insider program. The Windows Insider program gives those who sign up for access to the Windows 10 Technical Preview.

Microsoft VP Joe Belfiore made the announcement in a blog post today, saying, "That equates to a lot of people using the Windows 10 Technical Preview and sending us feedback. How much feedback? Over 200,000 pieces of user-initiated feedback have been submitted to us via the Windows Feedback app from Windows Insiders like you."

You might be under the impression that the video game company that make the most money in the world would be Electronic Arts, Sony, Microsoft, Activision, or even Google and Apple. But according to a new report from New Zoo that distinction belongs to Tencent.

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ZippyDSMlee: .....win8 hates any left over hidden install partitions from other version of windows....only waste 5 hours finding that out...its ahrder than you think keeping up with 4 or 5 HDDS......03/03/2015 - 4:44am

Matthew Wilson: I am going to pax east, any games you guys want me to check out?03/02/2015 - 11:23pm

ZippyDSMlee: No one remembers the days of Cinemagic and Cynergy eh? :P, meh even MGS is getting to film like....03/02/2015 - 8:44pm

MechaTama31: I was about to get all defensive about liking Metal Gear Solid, but then I saw that he was talking about "cinematic" as a euphemism for "crappy framerate".03/02/2015 - 8:29pm

prh99: Just replace cinematic with the appropriate synonym for poo and you'll have gist of any press release.03/02/2015 - 5:34pm

Monte: Though from a business side, i would agree with the article. While it would be smarter for developers to slow down, you can't expect EA, Activision or ubisoft to do something like that. Nintnedo's gotta get the third party back.02/28/2015 - 4:36pm

Monte: Though it does also help that nintendo's more colorful style is a lot less reliant on graphics than more realistic games. Wind Waker is over 10 years old and still looks good for its age.02/28/2015 - 4:33pm

Monte: With the Wii, nintnedo had the right idea. Hold back on shiny graphics and focus on the gameplay experience. Unfortunatly everyone else keeps pushing for newer graphics and it matters less and less each generation. I can barely notice the difference02/28/2015 - 4:29pm

Monte: ON third party developers; i kinda think they should slow down to nintendo's pace. They bemoan the rising costs of AAA gaming, but then constantly push for the best graphics which is makes up a lot of those costs. Be easier to afford if they held back02/28/2015 - 4:27pm

Matthew Wilson: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/02/28/the-world-is-nintendos-if-only-theyd-take-it/ I think this is a interesting op-ed, but yeah it kind of is stating the obvious.02/28/2015 - 2:52pm